Defaulters of Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Program at Tertiary Hospital, Malaysia: The Associated Factors

Abstract

Objectives: Describe the sociodemographic of defaulters in the Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Program at UKMMC and to identify the associated factors. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at UKMMC from December 2011 until May 2013. Defaulter was defined as a patient who failed to attend the first stage hearing screening at UKMMC and also defaulted follow-up at the Audiology Unit between January 2010 and May 2011. The information was obtained through telephone inquiries to parents using the set of questionnaires. The factors studied were awareness of hearing loss, distance to the hospital, appointment date, and financial and transportation difficulties. Results: A total of 280 respondents were interviewed. The majority of the respondents were Malays (71.79%) in the middle income category. Nonawareness of the child’s hearing loss was the main associated factor (n = 205, 73.21%). The other associated factors were: appointment date was not given (n = 173, 61.8%), distance to the hospital (n = 126, 45%), appointment date given is too far away (n = 57, 20.4%), financial difficulties (n = 59, 21.1%), followed by respondents who do not have their own transport (n = 46, 16.4%). Conclusions: Nonawareness of the child’s hearing loss by his or her parents was the major factor to the high default rate. Therefore, education and empowerment programs should be introduced and implemented at UKMMC in order to improve awareness among parents.